SPEAKING on a CyBC radio show yesterday morning, the head of the Police Association of Cyprus (SAK), Andreas Symeou, said that his association had never been invited to meetings for dealing with football hooliganism. He found this unacceptable as it was the Association’s members who were on the front-line when trouble broke out at football stadiums and ended up in hospital.
He also had a go at the media, which showed little sympathy for officers injured while performing their duties; injured hooligans received much better treatment by the media. Symeou, although a policeman, was speaking like a true union leader – not only defending his members, but also demanding a say in how the police force should deal with football violence.
It was only a matter of time for the leadership of SAK to start to behave in the same arrogant way as other union bosses. Things could only get worse after this weekend when the SAK general assembly is scheduled to approve the necessary changes to its articles of association so that it would become a fully-fledged union. The move is in open defiance of the Chief of Police, but PASYDY has already agreed to put SAK under its wing.
Symeou has already shown his intentions. The union has not been set up yet and he is demanding a say for the union in how football hooliganism should be dealt with. Surely the police is represented at meetings dealing with football violence by the Chief or his representative. Would there be two police commands once the union is established, one represented by the chief and one by the union boss? This is what Syemou is essentially demanding. But if this is allowed to happen, what discipline and order exists in the police force would be completely lost. The force would become as unruly and undisciplined as the civil service in which management has very little power over subordinates.
In yesterday’s radio show Symeou also stated that the association wanted the police to have the same working hours as the civil service. If this ridiculous suggestion were accepted it would mean any work out of ‘office hours’ would be paid as overtime, which would incur a much bigger cost to the taxpayer; or perhaps police stations would close at 3pm every day and stay closed at weekends. And if the police command does not accept these ludicrous demands, SAK could order its members to go on indefinite strike.
The police chief has tried to stop this insanity, but he is on his own against not just SAK but all the public sector unions which have voiced support for it. The government, meanwhile, has avoided involvement in the dispute for fear of being accused of being anti-union. But if it does not back the chief now, it will be solely responsible for the demise of the police force.
